Priceville

Priceville is located in central Morgan County, in the north-central part of the state just south of the Tennessee River. It has a mayor/council form of government.

Priceville is named after the Price family, who first settled in the area in 1825 after selling a plantation in Lawrence County. The Price family remained prominent in the area for many years, with as many as nine family members serving in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. The Priceville community has long been considered an extension of Decatur, having been located in unincorporated Morgan County for decades, some ten miles southeast of Decatur. The community applied for municipal incorporation in 1975, and is now the third-largest settlement in Morgan County. The community remained a small development between Decatur and Somerville until Interstate 65 was constructed in the late 1950s, after which its proximity to the interstate caused the area's population to grow significantly.

Priceville's population according to the 2010 Census was 2,658. Of that number, 93.7 percent of respondents identified themselves as white, 2.2 percent as Hispanic or Latino, 1.9 percent as African American, 1.3 percent as two or more races, 1.0 percent as Asian, and 0.7 percent as Native American. The town's median household income, according to 2010 estimates, was $64,488, and the per capita income was $29,111.

Employment

According to the 2010 Census, the workforce in Priceville was divided among the following occupational categories:

· Educational services, and health care and social assistance (25.3 percent)
· Manufacturing (18.4 percent)
· Professional, scientific, management, and administrative and waste   management services (9.2 percent)
· Retail trade (9.1 percent)
· Transportation and warehousing and utilities (6.2 percent)
· Public administration (5.8 percent)
· Other services, except public administration (4.9 percent)
· Construction (4.7 percent)
· Arts, entertainment, recreation, and accommodation and food services (4.5   percent)
· Wholesale trade (3.9 percent)
· Finance, insurance, and real estate, rental, and leasing (3.5 percent)
· Information (2.8 percent)
· Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, and extractive (1.5 percent)

Schools in Priceville are part of the Morgan County School system; the town has approximately 1,430 students and 85 teachers in one elementary school, one junior high school, and one high school.

Interstate Highway 65 passes north to south through Priceville, and State Highway 67 passes northwest to southeast through the town. Pryor Field Regional Airport is located about 10 miles northwest of the town. The Huntsville International Airport and International Intermodal Center is located 16 miles north of town.

Priceville holds an annual Easter Egg Hunt, a Veterans Memorial Team Bass Tournament, a car show, and a Christmas parade. Veterans Park in Priceville features a gazebo, a pavilion, a community center, and facilities for rent. The Morgan County Veterans Memorial was dedicated in 2012 in Priceville. The Price-Wooten House (ca. 1856) is listed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage. The headquarters for the Racking horse Breeders Association of America is located in Celebration Arena in Priceville. The town lies just to the east and south of the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge, the largest such refuge in the state.

Additional Resources

Morgan County Heritage Book Committee. Heritage of Morgan County, Alabama. Clanton, Ala.: Heritage Publishing Consultants, 1998.

Knox, John. A History of Morgan County, Alabama. Decatur, Ala.: Decatur Printing Company, Inc., 1967.